by Cynthia Eden
His robe slid over her legs. She wasn’t wearing anything beneath that robe, and she knew he realized it. Her clothes had been covered with ash, and she’d wanted to wash them before wearing the items again.
She just hadn’t thought about the whole being-nearly-naked-with-Mac bit. “Most people are scared of you, too,” Elizabeth blurted. She knew that was true. She’d gotten a few not-so-subtle warnings from her coworkers after the first time she’d met Mac. “They think you’re a dangerous man.”
“I am.” He shrugged. “But that’s good for you. That means I can take care of the creep out there.”
“Not if he comes at you with a gun.” The way Nate had been killed. “Or with another bomb. It doesn’t matter how tough you are then. You can’t fight that.”
“That’s why we have to find the joker before there’s another attack.”
Yes, they did.
“But right now you should get some sleep. Take the bed,” he told her gruffly. “And I’ll—”
Oh, no. That wasn’t happening. “It’s your bed, you take it. I can go sleep on the couch.”
He sighed. “I can sleep in here with you. We can both share the bed, or I’ll take the couch. You’re not sleeping on that lumpy piece of crap.”
The bed was big enough to share. Only there was one problem with that plan. “I want you.”
She saw his eyes change. Saw the green darken. Saw his nostrils flare. “You shouldn’t say things like that.”
Well, if he was going to know all of her secrets... “I want you,” Elizabeth told him again. “That’s why I’ve been turning down your dinner invitations. Why I didn’t want to go out for a drink with you.”
He raked a hand through his hair. “You know that doesn’t make sense, right? If you want someone, then you—”
“You make me want to let all of my control go and just feel.” He’d be an incredible lover; she had no doubt about that. All that hot intensity that was so very Mac...all of that intensity directed at her. Elizabeth swallowed. “I haven’t let go of my control in a very long time. I haven’t... I haven’t let myself care about anyone.” Not since Nate.
His eyes narrowed as he slowly stalked closer to her. “That doesn’t seem like a good way to live.” Then his hand lifted, and his callused fingertips brushed over her cheek. “Not a good way to live at all. That seems empty. Cold.” Mac shook his head. “You don’t strike me as being cold in any way.”
She sure didn’t feel cold right then. Elizabeth was burning up—just from his touch. “It hurts too much when you let go,” she whispered. “Because when the world falls to pieces around you, there’s only pain left.”
His hand slid down and curled under her chin. “I won’t let the world fall apart.”
He was temptation. Big and strong and sexy. Right in front of her. Fear was a shadow in her mind. Death stalked her once again. She’d tried to escape, but the past wouldn’t stop.
“I want you,” Mac said. His words were deep and dark, and they sank right through her, pushing that shadow of fear back. “I want you to go crazy with me. I want you to forget everything but me.” His thumb brushed sensually across her lower lip.
Her breath came a little faster. She found herself leaning toward him, even though she shouldn’t. All of her careful rules couldn’t go away in one night. She’d played it safe for so long...
Her tongue slid out and licked the edge of his thumb. It was an accident, wasn’t it?
His pupils expanded. “Baby, you’re playing a dangerous game. Because my control can only last so long.” His hand slid away from her chin, and he leaned forward. “Don’t push too far.” His lips closed over hers. And it was just a kiss, so she let go. She wrapped her arms around him and held on tight. She opened her mouth. She kissed him with hunger and need and the passion that was mounting inside her.
One kiss. A kiss before she crashed into bed. A kiss to help push away the last of her fear. Her control would hold. One kiss.
Her heart drummed faster. Her nails sank into his shoulders.
One kiss.
He lifted her up. Mac held her easily, and her legs curled around his waist.
One kiss.
His tongue slid over her bottom lip then thrust inside her mouth. His hips pushed against her, and she could feel the hot, hard length of his arousal pressing against her.
One. Kiss.
She wanted so much more.
He backed her up, not near the bed, but against the wall. Her back hit and she kept kissing him. Now was the time to break away. Now was the time to stop.
So why was she arching against him? Why was she loving the hard feel of his muscled chest against her? Why was she biting his lower lip and moaning?
“You are driving me insane,” Mac gritted out. “You think I didn’t see this fire in you? I did...from the very first. And I knew I had to have it. Have you.” He kissed a hot path down her neck, and her head tipped back against the wall.
It would feel so good to let go with him. To give in to her desire.
Their desire.
“I’ve dreamed about you.” His voice was even rougher. “Thought about having you in this bedroom, in my bed...”
His head lifted. Their eyes held.
“Tell me to pull back,” he ordered, his voice a rough and sexy growl. “Because I can’t, if you don’t.”
Her hands were still wrapped around him. She knew the choice was hers. The moment hers. She could let go. Or she could hold on to her control.
What will happen tomorrow? In the cold light of day? It won’t be the same then.
Softly, she said, “Pull back.”
He nodded grimly.
Her legs lowered to the floor as she slipped down. His hands flew out and flattened against the wall on either side of her body. “Give me a second.” The rough sound of his voice rolled over her.
She didn’t speak. Didn’t move. Didn’t—
“I know you’re not ready,” he growled, “for what I want from you.”
She wasn’t sure just what all he did want. And what all she had left to give.
“But you will be,” Mac said, his eyes glittering as he looked at her. “We won’t be able to keep this contained much longer.”
This. Their attraction. The pure incineration they felt when they touched.
“Sooner or later, we’ll come together. And it will be damn incredible.” He pushed away from the wall. From me. “You take the bed. I’ll go for another shower.” He headed for the door and muttered, “A very cold one this time.”
She watched him leave. Her whole body was tense and far too sensitive. Her nipples thrust against the front of his robe. Her skin felt too hot. And a cold shower...it sure seemed like a good idea to her, too.
Did Mac think he was the only one who had fantasies? If so, he was very much mistaken. He’d been starring in her dreams for a while now. Ever since she’d looked up and seen him standing on the other side of that library counter.
* * *
MELINDA’S EYES CRACKED OPEN. Her head was pounding, and her mouth was as dry as a desert. She couldn’t see anything, just total darkness. But at least she was alive.
That means I have a chance.
Her hands were bound behind her. Thick, rough hemp rope cut into her wrists. Her ankles were tied to the legs of a chair. The perp had sure secured her well.
Where was he? And could she get loose before he came back?
A door opened then, squeaking on its hinges, and light flooded into the room. She squinted against that light and tried to see his face. She hadn’t seen him before, not clearly. Not before the guy had jabbed a needle into her.
“Hello, Detective Chafer,” he said. He was standing in front of the light, and she still couldn’t clearly see his face. Then he stepped
forward, shut the door, and darkness filled the space once again.
She didn’t like that darkness. In her experience, monsters always hid in the dark. They did their very worst work in the dark. Most of the murders, most of the beatings...they were always under the cover of darkness.
She drew in a deep breath and tried to prepare for whatever was coming. She’d been shot before. She’d been hurt in the line of duty, and she’d survived. She wasn’t going to go out without a fight. “Who are you?” Her voice showed no fear. She wouldn’t show fear.
“My name doesn’t matter so much. It’s the job that I do...that matters.”
The floor creaked beneath his feet, and she knew he was coming closer. “Just what kind of job is it that you have?” A job...she didn’t like that. It implied he was some sort of hired gun, and that type of criminal was a whole different beast.
“I’m a fixer. I make problems go away.” He touched her shoulder. “I’m very good at my job.”
She understood then that she was one of his problems. Damn him. “Is that why Yeldon is dead? Someone called you in to eliminate him?”
“He was a problem,” he said softly. “The guy never should have been involved. Some people just can’t let the past go.”
“And the woman, Elizabeth Snow?”
“I didn’t think she knew anything. She was never supposed to be a target. But Yeldon...he made me realize that she was just holding on to secrets. My employer became very concerned about that.”
So she was talking to the errand boy. The real threat was the employer. Just who the hell was that?
“I’ve got many interesting skills,” he murmured. “I’m good with guns, bombs, knives...”
Melinda did not like where this was going.
“I can show you just how good I am.” He paused. “You really should have just taken that money as a token of appreciation. You could have looked the other way, and you wouldn’t have been involved at all.”
“That’s not who I am.”
“It’s who your lover was.”
That burned. She hadn’t known that her ex had been a dirty cop. But she’d still been painted with the same brush at the PD—guilty by association. That was why her promotion hadn’t come through. Why she’d suddenly been given the short end of the stick when it came to the caseloads.
“Things would have been easier for you if you’d just played ball,” he said, sighing. “Too bad.”
She stiffened her body. Melinda tried to prepare for whatever was going to come. “I was never so good at team sports.”
He laughed. “You think you’re going to get away, don’t you? That something is going to miraculously happen. You’re the smart cop. You’ll manage to distract me, you’ll get out...” He leaned close, and his breath whispered over her cheek. “But that won’t happen. You aren’t the first cop I’ve killed. You won’t be the last. I told you, I’m a professional. I’m the Fixer.”
Fixer.
Right then she was the problem that had to be fixed.
He backed away. “I’m so glad you had your phone on you. That will make things much easier. No need to bother with a burner phone when I can just use yours.”
She saw the glow of the screen light up as he called someone.
“By the way,” he said. “Feel free to scream during the call. I think it will really help things out...”
He had the speaker on, and she could hear the phone ringing. Once. Twice.
“Hello?” A male voice. Not groggy at all. Strong. Hard. “Detective Chafer?”
Right. Her name would have appeared on the phone’s screen, and, with a sinking heart, she realized just who the Fixer had called.
“Did you find the man we’re after, Detective?” Mac McGuire asked.
The Fixer said, “Oh, yes, she found him... Or rather, I found her.”
* * *
MAC FROZE IN front of his fireplace. “Who is this?”
“I’m the man you’re looking for. The monster in the dark.” Grim laughter followed that announcement.
“Do you have Detective Chafer?” Because the jerk had used her phone to make his call. Maybe he thought that move was smart, that by using the victim’s phone, it would make it harder to trace him.
You’re dead wrong.
Mac pushed a button on his landline phone so that the speaker option would be enabled. He wasn’t alone in the room right then. Sullivan had just arrived for a briefing.
“I’m staring right at the detective,” the guy on the phone told him.
Mac mouthed, He’s using her phone. Call the cops. Get a trace.
Sullivan instantly nodded and took out his own phone. He hurried into the kitchen. Mac knew it would take a bit of time for the techs at the PD to triangulate the call on Melinda’s cell, so he needed to keep that caller on the line for as long as possible. “Is she alive?” Mac asked.
“For the moment.”
“I don’t think I believe you.”
Silence, then...a woman’s scream.
“Happy now?” the guy taunted.
Hell, no. “What do you want?” Mac cast a quick glance toward the hallway. He’d thought that he heard the creak of a door opening. He’d left Elizabeth an hour ago—talk about one of the hardest things he’d ever done—but was she stirring then?
“Well, I’d wanted Elizabeth Snow to die in that explosion, but that didn’t happen.”
No, it sure as hell hadn’t.
Sullivan paced back into the room. On it. He mouthed the words back to Mac.
“I know you’re protecting her,” the guy continued. “I know—”
“He’s a professional!” Detective Chafer yelled. “Someone hired him, someone— Ah!” Her words broke off with a cry of pain.
There was a gasp near Mac. He glanced back to the hallway and saw Elizabeth standing there. She wore one of his shirts—an old T-shirt that fell to the middle of her thighs. Her eyes were wide with horror, and her hands had lifted to cover her mouth.
“She’s right,” the man on the line said.
Mac shook his head at Elizabeth. He didn’t want her to say a word. He didn’t want that man to realize that she was there.
“I am a professional. And the job I was hired to do? It’s eliminating Elizabeth Snow.”
Elizabeth’s hands slowly lowered.
“I don’t care about you,” the fellow said, sounding annoyed. “I don’t even care about this detective who is currently bleeding all over the damn place.”
Elizabeth crept forward.
“Collateral damage,” the killer explained. “That’s what you all are. You’re just people who happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.” His sigh came over the line. “There’s going to be more damage, if I don’t get to finish my job. You really think your family is so safe out on that ranch? I can find a way past any security system. I can find a weakness anywhere. Your brothers...your sister... I can take down anyone.”
Mac glanced at Sullivan and saw a darkening rage on his brother’s face. It was the same rage burning through Mac.
“But your family isn’t my job. Elizabeth Snow is. I just want her.”
Over my dead body.
“So give her to me,” the guy said. “And we can end this all right now. I’ll be fast. I’ll put a bullet right between those gorgeous, dark bedroom eyes of hers. One hit, and it’s all over.”
Rage was nearly choking Mac. “Not going to happen,” he snarled. “You won’t get near her, understand me?”
Nothing. The guy didn’t say a word.
Elizabeth reached out and touched Mac’s shoulder.
“She’s there, isn’t she?” The man on the phone—the man who Mac planned to personally destroy—asked. “Does she look afraid?”
Mac looked at Elizabeth. She looked damn beautiful. And utterly terrified.
“You were afraid that night at the cabin, too, Elizabeth,” the killer said, his voice softening a bit. “Didn’t expect you to get the drop on me. You weren’t even supposed to be there. Just the guy.” His rough laughter slid over the phone. “You’re the only one who ever got away from me. But really, it’s not my fault—”
“Your boss told you to leave her,” Mac guessed. Melinda had said he was a professional. So he would have been following orders. The order had been to kill Nate Daniels. Not Elizabeth Snow. At least, not back then.
But something had changed, and now Elizabeth was on the guy’s hit list.
“Elizabeth...” The killer drew out her name. “Do you really want this detective to die in your place? Do you want me to go after your protector’s family? Are you worth the lives of all those people?”
Elizabeth, don’t say—
“Will you let the detective go?” Elizabeth asked, her breath hitching. “If I come to you now, will you let her go?” Her gaze held Mac’s. “Will you promise to leave the entire McGuire family alone and just stop?”
“My orders were for you and Yeldon, no one else. If you stop running from me, we can end things quickly.”
The hell they could.
“I should have been able to kill you at the library.” Now he sounded annoyed. “You were supposed to be there alone. All of this trouble could have been avoided, if you’d just been alone.”
“So sorry,” Elizabeth said, a hard edge to her voice and her face tightening with anger, “that I’ve made it difficult for you to kill me. What a terrible inconvenience that must have been!”
“It won’t be difficult much longer. Even a cat runs out of lives eventually.”
They’d kept the fellow on the phone awhile. The cops should have gotten that trace by now. Even as he had that thought, Mac saw Sullivan glance down at his phone. He seemed to read a quick text, then when he looked up, savage satisfaction was on Sullivan’s face.
We’ve got him.
“Tell me where to meet you,” Elizabeth said. “Tell me, but promise you won’t hurt the detective anymore. Just let her go!”
“Meet me at your house, sweet Elizabeth. Meet me now.” And he hung up.